Never say Never.

Went on a Quad ride the other day with a friend from work. He said I would likely be interested in the Wye Lake area that he is familiar with. I said a Quad Eh... hmmm. never been on one of those. Never have been impressed with the noise, or the beer cans left behind, and the damage that many of them cause to the environment. but he assured me that he doesnt drive that way, and will bring out others garbage regularly. So we went. It was a quick 10 mile trip up Jordan river and past the two dams. Up the San Juan Ridge to Wye Lake

  The fall colours of the huckleberries and fireweed on the hillsides were great with the nice weather this day.

We saw one bear on the hillside above us, he stood up on a stump to see what all the commotion was about as we rounded a bend in the roadway

Wye Lake from the logging road above

floating camp roof

Beechey head this weekend

 Headed to  Beechey Head through Methosin today
on the roadside out there were some Greater-whitefronted geese feeding in grain feild. At the parking lot as soon as I got out of the car I could hear the kinglets and chickadees scoulding this Barred owl on the edge of the field.

When I reached the lookout, I was disappointed in that there were no raptors of any sort that I could see. I waited for several minutes before anything showed up, a red-tailed hawk, a sharpie and a coopers

Finally a Golden Eagle showed up from around the bend of the hill. It never stopped to say Boo, it just continued to flap and glide, out over the strait toward the States.

the Broadwing hawk is on the left

Finally after an hour or so,  a large kettle of Turkey Vultures came over and with them several Red-tailed Hawks and a Broadwinged Hawk were circling in the mix.

Barred owl at the top of the trail to beechey head

Steller's Jay in the breeze

oregon peg mushroom, Gomphidius oregonensis

A Pygmy Pair on Jocelynn

I hiked up Jocelynn Hill this day and quickly found a pair of Pygmy Owls canoodling in the tops of the Fir trees on the interior ridge.

I first heard them when one was doing its rapid fire tooting, I believe it has something to do with courtship.
I then called to it with my own toots and the male started answering  back to me, making a toot every 3 seconds, a little quicker than I have noticed in the past around these parts in the spring.

I carried on up the trail and out to the Ridge Top trail where you can look down onto Saanich inlet
From there I could see a Kestrel hunting along the rock outcrops of the cliffs below.

I couldn't get very close to him and this is one of the better shots I got of it as he was landing.
It is mushroom season here now, but not much is out yet. this Velvet-top fungus was the only notable one today.

Phaeolus schweinitzii